Full Cast Set for THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, Featuring Steven Epp at Theatre for a New Audience

Jeffrey Horowitz, Founding Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience, announces the complete cast for the New York premiere of The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, the first play in its four-production 2016-2017 Season at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, 262 Ashland Place.

The Servant of Two Masters, adapted by Constance Congdon from a translation by Christina Sibul, features Steven Epp and is directed by Christopher Bayes. The Servant of Two Masters begins previews Sunday, November 6, at 7:30pm for an opening on Thursday, November 17, and a run through Sunday, December 4.

Performing in The Servant of Two Masters are Liam Craig (Brighella), Steven Epp (Truffaldino), Melanie Field (Smeraldina), Andy Grotelueschen (Pantalone), Eugene Ma (Silvio), Jacob Ming-Trent (Dottore), Orlando Pabotoy (Florindo), Adina Verson (Clarice), and Liz Wisan (Beatrice). Christopher Curtis and Aaron Halva play original music.

Written in 1745, The Servant of Two Masters is one of the great dramatist Carlo Goldoni's most popular plays, preserving in scripted form the antic energy, ribald humor and improvisational immediacy of the commedia dell'arte.

"Reviving The Servant of Two Masters demands masterly comic instincts, as the slapstick details of its immortally zany tale must be reinvented for every age," said Mr. Horowitz. "Christopher Bayes's and Steven Epp's hilarious adaptation has been hailed as the wittiest and cleverest English-language version in decades. These veterans of America's celebrated Theatre de la Jeune Lune company honor the legacy and tradition of commedia by rendering it utterly contemporary, relying on improvisation, and a spirit of dauntless playfulness."

This adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters had its world premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2010. It subsequently played at the Shakespeare Theatre, Washington D.C., and won a Helen Hayes Award for Steven Epp (Best Actor) and a Helen Hayes nomination for Christopher Bayes (Best Director). The Servant of Two Masters has also played at the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis (2012), ArtsEmerson, Boston (2013, Elliot Norton Award nominations for Outstanding Production and Outstanding Actor) and Seattle Rep (2013).

The creative team includes composers Aaron Halva and Christopher Curtis, set designer Katherine Akiko Day, costume designer Valérie Thérèse Bart, lighting designer Chuan-Chi Chan, Sound Designers Charles Coes and Nathan A. Roberts, hair and makeup designer Dave Bova, properties supervisor Eric Reynolds, fight director Rick Sordelet, casting director Deborah Brown, and production stage manager Sonja Thorson.

Subscriptions for Theatre for a New Audience's 2016-2017 season include a Four-Play Package for $220, various Three-Play Packages for $174 each, and a Flex Pass Package for $240. Subscriptions may be purchased at www.tfana.org/season or by calling (212) 229-2819, ext. 10, Monday - Friday 1:00pm-6:00pm.

Single tickets for The Servant of Two Masters, $85-95, will go on sale in next month. A limited number of premium seats will be available for $110 each. New Deal tickets for ages 30 and under or full-time students of any age are priced at $20 each and can be purchased when single tickets go on sale.

Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience is a modern classic theatre. It produces Shakespeare alongside other major authors from the world repertoire, such as Harley Granville Barker, Edward Bond, Adrienne Kennedy, Wallace Shawn, and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Theatre for a New Audience has played Off- and on Broadway and toured nationally and internationally.

In 2001, Theatre for a New Audience became the first American theatre invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), Stratford-upon-Avon. Cymbeline, directed by Bartlett Sher, premiered at the RSC; in 2007, Theatre for a New Audience was invited to return to the RSC with The Merchant of Venice directed by Darko Tresnjak starring F. Murray Abraham. In 2011, Mr. Abraham reprised his role as Shylock for a national tour.

After 34 years of being itinerant and playing mostly in Manhattan, Theatre for a New Audience moved to Brooklyn and opened its first permanent home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in October 2013. Built by The City of New York in partnership with Theatre for a New Audience and located in the Brooklyn Cultural District, Polonsky Shakespeare Center was designed by Hugh Hardy and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture with theatre consultants Akustiks, Milton Glaser, Jean-Guy Lecat, and Theatre Projects. Housed inside the building are the Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage (299 seats) -- the first stage built for Shakespeare and classical drama in New York City since Lincoln Center's 1965 Vivian Beaumont -- and the Theodore C. Rogers Studio (50 seats).

The Theatre's productions have been honored with Tony, Obie, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Lortel and Audelco awards and nominations and reach an audience diverse in age, economics and cultural background.

The Theatre created and runs the largest in-depth program in the New York City Public Schools to introduce students to Shakespeare, and has served more than 128,000 students since the program began in 1984. The Theatre's economically accessible New Deal ticket program includes one of the lowest reserved ticket prices for youth in the city: $20 for any show, any time for those 30 years old and under or for full-time students of any age.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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